Woman receives cut on head after purse snatched at mall

MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WMBF) – The Myrtle Beach Police Department is currently investigating a robbery in which an elderly woman was injured Wednesday.

According to a police report, officers responded to the Coastal Grand Mall near Belk shortly after 10 a.m. in reference to a strong armed robbery. Officers found a 72-year-old female victim bleeding from her face, who informed officers she was walking outside when a male suspect rode up on a bicycle and grabbed her purse.

The victim told officers the suspect grabbed her shoulder as well as the purse, causing her to fall to the sidewalk. The victim suffered injuries to her head, knees and hands from the force of the fall, but was unable to get a description of the suspect.

A witness told officers he saw a white male standing around 5'10" with a medium build and red curly hair riding a bicycle in the area. According to the witness, he would be able to identify the suspect if he saw him again, because he always rides his bicycle at the mall.

Officers were able to locate the bicycle in question next to a drainage pond. The victim's purse was also located near the bicycle. According to the victim, only $170 was missing from the purse.

After checking with stores near the incident area, officers were unable to obtain any surveillance footage of the incident.